"Making it to the top 15 in this pageant is a huge deal''

TNN | Oct 9, 2017, 01.25 PM IST

Actress and Miss Universe 2000 Lara Dutta is all set for Yamaha Fascino Miss Diva 2017 empowered by United Colors of Benetton and co-powered by Reliance Digital.It's been an exciting and challenging journey for her with the 15 finalists; the winner of the pageant, to be held on October 11 in Mumbai, will represent India at Miss Universe 2017. Excerpts from an interview with the charming mentor-host Lara:

This is your fourth year with the pageant. How different are this year's finalists?

We had a promising batch last year. They were young and easily mouldable and I was confident about our winner, Srinidhi Shetty , who won the international pageant. This year, the girls were a lot less exposed compared to the previous batch. My job was tougher too, but I took it up as a challenge. Also, after a meeting in New York in July with the Miss Universe Organization, I got a clearer picture of what they are looking for in the winner. There is a lot of advocacy involved with the title. Seems, the current Miss Universe was actually sent to an event where she got a senator to commit his vote to a Bill that's being passed in the US Legislature. Those are the kind of situations the girls will face. So, you need to find somebody who is educated and has a larger viewpoint of the world. She needn't be well traveled and well-experienced, but should have a curious mind. For the first time this year, we had a Q and A session during the auditions to select the top 15 finalists.
So, what did you focus on this year?

The emphasis was on getting them to develop their own point of view, and make them confident enough to step into a room and hold their own, regardless of whether they are in line with somebody else's opinion or not. Of course, the girls also went through their entire training programme -how to walk, how to dress, how to present themselves and how to face the camera. It's very demanding on the finalists and they have been putting in long hours for the training and the shooting for the TV episodes.

What was the first advice you gave the 15 finalists?

The most important point is understanding their values and taking care of themselves. Unfortunately in our business, whether it's glamour world or films, there is so much of exploitation. A lot of these new girls are young and desperate to make it. Sometimes, they fear that if they don't do x, y or z, they will lose out. I explain to them that they have to realize their self-worth because no one else is going to do that for them. If you treat yourself well, everyone around will treat you with the same respect. You should be somebody who is adding value to something; you make the title worth it by being the person you are, the title doesn't make you.

What do you want to tell those who don't make it in the finals?

Making it to the top 15 is a huge deal and the kind of exposure that one gets is tremendous. There's a TV show and even if you don't win, people know you have participated. This is an amazing plat form and girls become ramp models or print campaign models. It's not like... `I didn't win the crown and so my life is over, and I'm going to crawl back into anonymity'. I tell them that they have been armed with an arsenal of training that girls across the country would kill for. So, what are they going to do with it? One can either go back to the city they came from and say, `I did my best, but I didn't get it' or they can actually push and make a go for it.

The six-part episode series on the journey of the finalists will air on Colors Infinity, India's premier English entertainment channel, starting October 28, every Saturday and Sunday at 7pm.

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